Well worth the effort

For the second winter,

Mom and Dad signed us up for swim lessons in the winter

to "keep up our skills."

And we didn't let them down!

I was in the Seals class this year

where we worked on our strokes.

I'm getting pretty good at the backstroke

and working on my butterfly

Weston was a Penguin

...and worked on swimming

with his face in the water

Lots of scoops, kicks,

rocketships, and bubbles! 

But probably the biggest change...

I got the courage to take on the 

HUGE waterslide!

Mom and Dad were pretty proud of us!

The BIG surprise

We headed to the cabin this weekend

for a quick getaway.

There is still a lot of fun to be had,

even in the winter!

We spent quality time with Aunt Mandy

There was silliness with Water Bear

Weston made cookies with Grandma

And Aunt Mandy and Kurt helped me 

work on my marksmanship

There were rumors

Grandma J and Water Bear

had a surprise for us.

We had no idea

it would be quite as awesome as this...

A FOUR WHEELER!!!

JUST FOR US!!!

Complete with a helmet

I was a little timid at first

I listened to all of Water Bear's instructions

and took a few laps around the camp

Before long,

I was tearing up the backroads

 In fact,

we loaded up the four wheelers

and the Ranger,

and we ALL tore up the backroads!

We drove down to the end of the road to the lake

 We drove crazy through the dirt and mud.

We stopped to throw rocks on the frozen lake.

We laughed and shivered in the wind

We enjoyed each other and this awesome day

There was a lot of four wheeling

And Ranger-riding

Eventually Weston got up the nerve to go for a ride

on our four wheeler...

And then he even took it for a spin himself!

We had a great time hanging out

Relaxing

Playing games

 And going for more four wheeler rides

 There will be lots more weekends like this...

We are getting our own cabin!

It's going to take some elbow-grease

and TLC,

but we're excited to have our own space!

Thanks for the four wheeler, Grandma and Grandpa!

We are counting the days 'til we come down again!

Reeds on skates

We did a bit of skating over the summer

with preschool

and have been DYING to go again!

Thank you Groupon...

Let's go skating!

It's trickier than you'd think

Whoa!

But with a bit of Dad's help...

And a bit of Mom's help...

Ok, a LOT of Mom's help...

...by the end of the night,

we were doing pretty well!

I even braved the rink by myself for several laps.

I tried the "shoot the duck" game

and Mom and I even did the backwards-only skate.

Is taking a 6 and 3 year old skating crazy?

Maybe!

But we sure had a blast!!!

Three quarters of a year

Yep, it's true.

I'm 9 months old now.

Crazy, right?

My tricks?

I sit well

I try to pull myself to a sit from lying down

I pull to my knees from a sit

I can stand if I'm holding on to something

I military crawl on my belly

I love to play!

I like to throw things out of a basket

I like to roll around from place to place

I love my car

And the exersaucer

And the jumper

(I REALLY love the jumper)

There are lots of "Mamamama" and "Dadadada"

but not to anyone in particular yet.

I'm eating more table foods

(2-3 meals a day).

Sleep has been rough.

I was "evicted" from Mom and Dad's room

and I'm sleeping in my own room.

Nights are better--seldom do I wake up in the middle

and I go down pretty easy.

But I like to get up at 5:00am.

And I do NOT like to nap.

At all.

There is too much I'll miss!

But my adorableness keeps me out of too much trouble...

Happy Birthday Grandma J!

It had been a while since we got together with

Water Bear, Grandma Janice, and Aunt Mandy.

Grandma Janice had her birthday.

I'd say that calls for a get-together!

There was playing with trucks

Reading with Puppy

Working on standing

And of course,

DESSERT!

Cupcakes and candles for everyone!

You would think cupcakes were the highlight of the night.

But nooooo!

Check this thing out.

A record player!

It's Mom's old record player

and a ton of books and records to go with it.

This may be our new favorite toy.

What were we doing here again?

Oh, yeah!

Happy Birthday, Grandma!